Center Says Teen Show Signs Of Being Ill

December 25, 1985|By David Enscoe and James H. Tolpin, Staff Writer

A 13-year-old at the county juvenile detention center showed no signs of illness shortly before a policeman removed him from the center and took him to a hospital because of an adverse reaction to drugs, the center`s assistant superintendent said Tuesday.

Dana Tuomi, who had been at the center since Dec. 9, was taken to St. Mary`s Hospital on Sunday by a West Palm Beach policeman summoned by the boy`s mother. Linda Tuomi said the center failed to have her son treated despite obvious symptoms.

West Palm Beach police officer Vito Camardella said that when he arrived at the state-run center in West Palm Beach on Sunday, he recognized immediately that something was wrong with Dana because ``he looked drugged up.``

``I was upset myself that he hadn`t had any medical attention up to that point,`` Camardella said Monday.

He added that Dana, whose ``eyes looked pretty bad,`` admitted swallowing pills. ``I could only guess at what he took and how much,`` he said.

But Assistant Superintendent William Lawson responded Tuesday, saying Dana showed no effects of a drug overdose. He said he only learned the boy had taken drugs when informed that he had been admitted to the hospital.

``It wasn`t evident at the time that he had taken anything,`` Lawson said.

``There were no complaints from the young man or the other workers and there was no evidence that he had taken anything. In no way did it look like he was overdosing.``

Dana was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and returned to the center, where he is to complete a 21-day detention order for his alleged involvement in an auto theft.

Lawson said incidents involving Dana and pills go back a week, when Dana was caught with two unidentified pills. The teen-ager flushed them down a toilet before employees could confiscate them, Lawson said.

Dana told officials his mother gave him those two pills, Lawson said.

An investigation after that incident determined those pills were smuggled into the center during visitation hours, he said.

Lawson also said he believed the boy`s mother may have been be responsible for smuggling those pills to her son, but he couldn`t be sure.

A search of Dana`s room turned up no other pills, Lawson said.

Of Sunday`s incident, Lawson said: ``We are 100 percent sure he didn`t bring the drugs into the center himself. There was only one way he could have got the drugs in. That was during visitation. Another parent told us the mother did give him something during visitation on Sunday.``

Lawson said staff members took a candy bar from Dana shortly after his mother visited him Sunday afternoon. He said candy is forbidden because of the possibility of its containing drugs.

Linda Tuomi denied giving her son any drugs. She also said she had not heard about the incident of a week ago until a reporter informed her Tuesday night of Lawson`s statements.

She said she was only accused on Sunday of giving Dana drugs during her visit with him earlier that day. That accusation led her to believe her son had ingested drugs, which led her to call West Palm Beach police.

Tuomi said her son has since admitted taking the pills he swallowed Sunday from the family medicine cabinet. He hid them in a plastic bag inside his mouth when sheriff`s deputies took him to the center Dec. 9, she said.

Lawson confirmed that supervisor Norman Hands called Linda Tuomi on Sunday to question her about giving her son drugs.

Hands, when a reporter asked him Monday if he called Linda Tuomi, said, ``It couldn`t be me.``

``When we realized something was going on, (Hands) did call her and asked if she gave her son anything,`` Lawson said. ``She cursed at him and hung up on us. An hour later the officer came in and demanded to take him to the hospital. He said Dana`s eyes were glassy.``

Linda Tuomi said Hands became hostile with her and that he hung up the phone after she requested to speak to her son.

But Lawson insisted Dana did not appear to be under the influence of drugs.

``He even gave the officer a hard time,`` he said. ``Dana said, `My mother hates you and everybody who works here.` He was not groggy.``